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The Pull List #77 – October 19, 2016

A weekly column in which Jake gives short blurbs about the comics he’s picked up that week. Reviewed in the order read, which varies but generally by increasing anticipation. Disclaimer: he knows very little about art, at least not enough to considerably honor such tremendous undertakings, so…yeh, there’s that.

In the wilds of the Negative Zone, amongst the hordes of the Ash King, Cindy Moon has finally found her parents. And it’s pretty anticlimactic. Thompson wraps up this story, the story of Silk finding her missing family—the story that has literally been the crux of this series the entire time, across two volumes—far too quickly for it to be anything but unsatisfactory. The lack of suitable drama permeates throughout the issue, so much so that the stereotypical “last-page-reveal” felt more trite than usual. Art-wise, this book has some of Ford’s best faces. It also has some of Ford’s worst faces. All-in-all a pretty bit letdown.

After skipping the Night of the Monster Men crossover (thank goodness that was brief), Batman returns to the PL with I Am Suicide, where he must recruit his own Suicide Squad to break into Santa Prisca to free Psycho-Pirate from Bane’s clutches so he can heal Gotham Girl. Whew. Okay, Tom King fully dials in the Batman-ness in this issue. We get snappy Alfred, we get caring, paternal Bruce Wayne and we get badass Batman. Putting-the-team-together issues are always fun when the roster is interesting and this story is no exception. Janin returns to art duties (he did the Batman: Rebirth one-shot) and boy is it a great return. His layouts and sequencing are excellent and he nails every bit of emotion just as flawlessly as he does the splash pages. Aided by some deft coloring by Chung and this might be the best art in Batman comics to date. A major upswing, this book is.

Getting out of that Civil War 2 mess, Jessica and Roger take their kids (separate, don’t you dare ship them, I’m warning you, do, not, do, it)…to the beach. Here’s the thing about the beach though: it’s got sand, and sand is coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Also sometimes it comes in the form a of man. Sandman. Yep, we went all that way for that joke. Anyway, with Jessica off-duty, Roger has to step up to the plate. But how can a D-lister like Porcupine defeat a…B-Lister? Like B+ maybe? lister like Sandman. Hopeless is back in fine form, giving us great fun and wit. Walker and Rosenberg gift us with clear and expressive art that’s wonderfully detailed. Spider-Woman #12 is a fantastic pick-me-up after the last few downer issues.

Trapped by thousands of splitty/putty-backy-togethery guys called Enigma and the technology-barren wasteland of Somewhere, Canada, how will Squirrel Girl possibly save the day? With the help of best pal Brain Drain and not-so-best pal, Ant-Man. Super-funny and super-fun. Another great USG outing.

But wait, there’s more!

CharlieDanger82 is helping out this week to cover some the new titles for DC Rebirth. Think of it like a backup story in your favorite book, just with less talented writing.

This book continues to shift and evolve every issue. this week it’s all about the complications of maintaining romantic relationships, rescuing friends and having to deal with the fact that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, no-win situations are inevitable. Benjamin Percy continues his awesome run on GA and it is, as always, a treat to read.

There is a splash page of a WWII era soldier with a Thompson machine gun riding a pteradactyl, a flying dog and a man with a cape flying through the air with his son clinging to his neck. Please leave your $2.99 at the door and enjoy the ride as Captain Storm, John, Clark, Kryto and “Myrna” as they try to unravel the mystery of John’s science project and find their way home. Did I mention I love this book? I love this book.

Now that the “monster men” crossover is done, Nightwing is back on the pull list to very meh to creepy results. Dick has uncovered Raptor’s double cross and is on the hunt to bring him to justice. What Dick finds is NOT what he bargained for, bringing up ghosts from his past and the life of Bruce Wayne hanging in the balance. It’s good to see Raptor here even if his continuing obsession with “branding” is getting really old. It’s also hard to tell if his connection to Grayson’s past is genuine or more misdirection. I’ll follow this plotline til the end, but the return of Nightwing to the PL may be short lived.

This book is a Superman book so far. Batman is a scowling sidekick who just throws pessimism like it’s a Batarang, Diana seems like a friendzoned girl being overly nice to the guy she had a crush on and Superman is the same struggling father that he is in his regular book. All this would be fine, if the book were not called Trinity. BM & WW are taking the way WAY backseat in a very Superman centric story. Maybe they’ll all take turns being the star, but at the same time, that’s what their solo books are for. The point of the book is unity, but the spotlight only seams to be shining on one man. The future of this book on the PL after this arc is done is dubious.